The invention relates to a harvesting machine, especially a self-propelled pick-up chopper for picking up and chopping corn, wilted grass, green feed and similar harvested material with a feeding housing, which is disposed ahead of a chopping device and accommodates feeding rollers, which can be driven.
Harvesting machines of the aforementioned type are known in various developments. Such machines, especially also self-propelled pick-up choppers, have been developed in recent machines to very strong machines which, aside from mowing and harvesting corn, also find use increasingly for chopping wilted material, hay, straw and other harvested materials. For this purpose, a pick-up, a corn dentition or another attachment are disposed ahead of the feeding housing.
Increasingly, there is also a demand for harvesting machines, which can be adapted to use conditions, moreover, with relatively little expenditure or retrofitting. For example, in many cases efforts are also made, for example, to vary also the cut lengths; conventionally, for this purpose, knife arrangements must be changed in known machines. If, for example, feed rollers are driven at a higher speed, the feed segment up to the conveyer roller frequently is inadequate, for example, for detecting foreign objects and stopping the device adequately quickly, to prevent penetration of foreign objects into the chopping device.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a harvesting machine of the above-mentioned type, which meets the requirements for adaptation to different harvesting conditions.
For accomplishing this objective, the harvesting machine of the initially mentioned type is distinguished owing to the fact that more than two feed roller pairs are provided, which are disposed consecutively in the feeding conveying direction and the upper rollers of which can be driven over a common driving mechanism. For adapting the height of the upper rollers, the common driving mechanism has at least one positionally changeable driving element, which passes through the feeding housing, and the driving element and the upper rollers are disposed in each case so that they be displaced by sliding in guides on the feeding housing side.
With that, a harvesting machine is available, which can be adapted to different use conditions. For example, the upper feed rollers, which can be shifted by sliding and driven by a common driving mechanism, can be adapted to different material streams by changing the driving speed automatically without the need for manual adjustment work, the driving element following the positional accommodation manual adjustment work not being required.
Moreover, due to the common driving mechanism, and the more than two pairs of feeding rollers, disposed consecutively in the feeding conveying direction, the conditions are created for realizing different cut lengths of harvested material, in that a sufficient feeding segment still remains for stopping the feeding device in good time, even at higher speeds, when foreign objects are detected, so that the detected foreign objects do not reach the chopping device. Preferably, a driving mechanism is provided in such a manner for this purpose, that the feed rollers can be driven controllably. The construction expenditure, required for this purpose, is significantly less than that for conventional machines, since everything can be brought about from a common driving coupling.
Because the driving element passes through the feed housing, the external dimensions of the feeding housing are also utilized so that positional changes can be carried out without additional constructional expenditures at other places. The cut length of the harvested material can be changed by controlling the speed of the feed rollers without the need for changing knife arrangements. Preferably, the driving speed can also be controlled as a function of the moisture content of the harvested material with the help of moisture sensors, which act over control electronics on the driving mechanisms of the feed rollers. In addition, when the machine is equipped with a corn cracker, the distance between the nip rollers can also be varied as a function of the moisture content measured in order to optimize a corn cracker for working up the harvested material. Overall, a harvester is best made available which, with little constructional expenditure and without any retrofitting worth mentioning, can be adapted automatically to different use conditions.
Significant further advantages of the invention arise out of the additional dependent claims, the description below and the accompanying drawings.